Air mattresses have enjoyed wide popularity for a number of reasons. When not in use, the air mattress is capable of being deflated to a substantially two-dimensional geometry which can be folded compactly and stored and transported quite easily. When inflated, air mattresses provide the user with a generally high level of comfort as the user is literally supported upon a cushion of air isolating the user from what would be an otherwise uncomfortable sleeping surface such as natural terrain encountered on a typical camping excursion.
Although air mattresses are relatively inexpensive and enjoy those advantages recited above, such products are not universally embraced by the consuming public and they rarely are seen as suitable replacements for more conventional bedding. One of the primary reasons for this lack of universal acceptance is that air mattresses, at least to date, have not provided the user with a generally level, comfortable and firm sleeping surface. Conventional air mattresses tend to exhibit a characteristic "give" where the user's body causes redistribution of air within the mattress resulting in areas of "bulge" surrounding the user's body.
Attempts have been made to address this perceived shortcoming in several different ways. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,705,429 discloses an inflatable mattress by locating a plurality of inflatable beams, columns or chambers within an outer inflatable chamber. Each beam is separately inflatable with its own inflation valve to provide inflated substructures within an overall air mattress geometry. Although conceptually the configuration shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,705,429 is of interest, in practice, it provides only modest improvement over mattresses without such expedients and, noting that each beam is separately inflatable, the task of inflating the mattress and each individual beam can prove daunting for many users. In addition, each beam represents a separate area of potential leakage so that its use is not as practical as one might hope.
It is thus an object of the present invention to provide an air mattress which characteristically creates a generally level, comfortable and firm sleeping surface while not being overly complex to produce and maintain.
A further object of the present invention is to provide an air mattress which is characterized as exhibiting lateral load stability having a substantial "box-like" effect to provide the user with a sense of firmness and stability characteristic of traditional bedding.
These and further objects will be more readily appreciated when considering the following disclosure and appended claims.